At the ES Fox Observatory (established in 2011), we have a large reflecting telescope (a 28-inch Webster -temporarily under repair) and a 10-inch SCT on a GOTO mount that we use regularly for public viewing. We welcome new members. See CONTACT US to join.

Next BAS meeting is June 5 at Fox Observatory.See COMING EVENTS for other event details.

Naked Eye/Binocular Astronomy EventsSpring 2019

Look to the Morning Sky for Planet Action Venus and Mercury in the morning sky are getting closer and closer to the Sun and rise closer and closer to sunup. Groupings of the Moon and planets are more spread out in the dawn sky now and Venus, although still bright is rising in morning twilight. Mercury re-appears in the evening sky in June.Only Mars remains in the evening sky as a naked eye planet. Mars will hang high above the SW horizon (50°!) until June of 2019 as it is moving to the east about as fast as the sky is “moving west” on a daily basis. Surface features on the planet are impossible to see due to its small apparent size as it shrinks to less than 4 arc-seconds across. However, over the next month, watch Mars, looking like a magnitude 2 star, slightly reddish, travel through Gemini passing through M35 in mid-May and pairing with Mercury a few weeks later June 17 to 19.

Jupiter at Opposition June 10 Jupiter is starting to become visible around midnight now and gets better and better placed for observing until June 10 when it reaches opposition and is in the sky all night long. Saturn is only two hours behind. Good summer viewing is ahead.

A Closeup Look at the Moon: The sky is brightened by Luna for about half of the month so we should make the most of it. Julian Delf did and his image from Apr 15 is shown below. The Moon was in gibbous phase that evening (and it was clear that night -imagine that!). The Moon’s age was just under 11 days old (out of 29.53 days for a complete lunar cycle) and it was about 75% illuminated. Camera data: Sony SLT-A77V attached to a 10” Skywatcher Quattro F/4, (a very nice imaging newtonian), exposure was 1/350 s at ISO 50. Effective focal length is 1600 mm since the Sony has an APS-C chip which gives about a 1.6X enlargement factor.

The main lunar craters are Tycho, the prominent rayed crater at lower left and Copernicus, farther up in the centre of the large dark area, Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms. The large circular mare above Copernicus is Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) and below that clockwise is the darker Mare Tranquillitatus (Tranquillity), Mare Serenitatis (Serenity) and to its right Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). Lagoon and Trifid NebulasThe many deep sky objects of the Milky Way in Sagittarius and Scorpius are coming to a sky near you soon. And with it are Messier objects like the globular cluster M22, the Sagittarius Star Cloud M24 (see May SGN Image of the Month) and the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas. Featured in this section is another Frank Williams image of the M8 and M20 region taken last fall. Frank was using a Canon 6D at the prime focus of a Tec 140 mm (5.5 inch) refractor. The final image is a stack of 60 3 minute exposures.

Andromeda Galaxy A relative newbie at astro-imaging, Rob Walker has dived into the hobby deeply. His fine image of M31 the Andromeda Galaxy below is one of his latest efforts and an indication of many fine views to come. Nice work Rob! The shot was made with a 400 mm Sony telephoto lens borrowed from Frank W. Enjoy! (The small “plus” sign in the upper corner is an artifact.)

Auroral displays in our area are declining as we are now passing through solar minimum. There have been periods of "blank Sun" where sunspots have been totally absent for a time. However, magnetic disturbances from the sun continue to produce auroras in the auroral zones and sometimes farther south (or north for aurora australis). So if the auroral oval in the graphic below is showing any RED, aurora borealis may be visible from your location. The graphic is updated regularly with time indicated at the top in UT so subtract 5 h to get local EST, or 4 h for DST. (Use the appropriate factor for other time zones). For more information click here: NOAA home website.To receive auroral alerts directly to your email inbox as they are announced, visit NOAA Subscription Service (SWPC) and sign up for their alert service (still free).

From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Image Archives:A recent meeting of BAS showed images from the CFHT on Mauna Kea. By popular demand, this space will be devoted to showcasing some of these. Have a look at this site for more: CFHT Image Of Month